What is a web3 account? The usual explanation is that it is a pair of randomly generated public and private keys in the cryptographic sense. The public key is displayed to the outside world and is used to represent the user, while the private key is controlled by the user himself and is used to encrypt and sign data. The public key and private key are strictly paired. The public key is like a padlock, and the private key is like a key. A padlock has only one key. Whoever has the private key is the owner of the web3 account. However, for ordinary people, web3 accounts are too different from commonly used accounts. For example, mobile phone numbers, or user names for network services, and even ID numbers are too different from the long string of web3 addresses. Because it is impossible to understand its principles, there will be doubts about its security, which will eventually affect the acceptance of web3, not to mention that users have to manage their own accounts. Letting ordinary people understand the principles and security of web3 accounts may be one of the foundations for large-scale application of web3.

Cryptographic calculations involve large number operations, and the security of accounts comes from mathematical problems such as large number factorization and discrete logarithm problems. For example, the current mainstream web3 account, Ethereum wallet address, has a private key length of 32 bytes, which is 2^256, approximately equal to 10^78. This is a very large number, and the current global computing power cannot exhaust such a large private key space within a feasible time. Based on the current computing power and technical level, it takes an extremely long time to find a specific private key through exhaustive search or brute force cracking, which is beyond the scope of reality.

The above is a technical explanation, which is easy to understand for people who understand technology. However, for those who do not understand technology, it is still not easy to understand, and it is difficult for them to have a very intuitive understanding and fully trust the security of the pair of keys in their hands. We try to explain the security of web3 accounts from another more vivid perspective.

The universe is infinite. The universe we observe is a spherical area with a diameter of about 90 billion light years, but this is probably only a very small area of ​​the universe. According to scientists' estimates, the number of atoms in this observable universe is about 10^80 to 10^85. We noticed that the value range of a web3 account is about 10^78, while the number of atoms in the universe may be 10^80. The difference between these two numbers is only 100 times, which is within the range of our understanding and imagination. Therefore, although we have no perception of how big 10^78 is, because we are in the universe, we can relatively understand the vastness of the universe, and we can have a similar perception for web3 accounts. We can think of each web3 account as the number of an atom in the universe, but the position of this atom in the universe is determined by its private key. The security of web3 accounts comes from the fact that no one can determine the exact position of this atom in the universe based on a number. When we look up at the starry sky, admire the magnificence and mystery of the universe, and marvel at its vastness, we can also be sure that there is a tiny atom in it that truly belongs to us, and no one else will ever be able to find it.

#每一个web3账号，就是宇宙中的一个原子